Cassowary disappointment

RECENTLY, the people of the Community Mine Continuation Agreement (CMCA) celebrated the opening of the Cassowary Hotel in Kiunga, Western.
Indeed. It is about time the people’s funds are invested in lucrative investment initiatives that will yield positive returns.
Investing in a hotel in the province is crucial as the tourism industry needs a major facelift with new and modern facilities.
However, it is disappointing to note that the Cassowary Hotel does not exude the ambiance of a hotel at all and should be aptly named ‘Cassowary Motel’ or ‘Cassowary Hostel’.
A hotel should have the qualities exuded by those we find in Port Moresby, such as Gateway, Lamana, Laguna and Holiday Inn.
The Cassowary does not even reflect the K34 million spent on it and one wonders where all that money went to.
The hotel should have significantly altered the face of Kiunga town, standing out as a source of pride. However, the building represents poor workmanship and built with prefabricated materials usually found on temporary campsite facilities.
The Provincial Building Board should make it mandatory for those acquiring titles within the prime locations of Kiunga town to use concrete and steel to construct their buildings so that those buildings can contribute towards improving the façade of the town.
In addition, the Cassowary’s location is poorly chosen.
The so-called hotel is situated outside of Kiunga town, a few metres from the Kiunga-Tabubil Highway.
Furthermore, the K34 million spent to construct the hotel will never be recouped during its life. The annual turnover of the hotel may only be around K200,000 and at such a pace, it would take 170 years to break even.
By then, the building would have become obsolete and collapsed or, if it survived, would be expensive to maintain.
If Ok Tedi Development Foundation (OTDF), Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) and the CMCA communities want tangible development to happen in the province, they should use the funds to construct transportation infrastructure such as roads, bridges, wharves, jetties (already being addressed by OTDF) and airstrips.
Western is probably the only province in the country that does not have roads connecting its electorates, except for the Kiunga-Tabubil Highway, which is maintained by OTML in North Fly.

Eugene Kambut